Lawyer cites ‘culture’ as defence against man who beat his wife to death

A Pakistani immigrant living in New York City beat his wife to death because she served him lentils instead of goat. The words that the prosecutor used in court was that he beat her until she was a “bloody mess.”

The Pakistani immigrant, 75-year-old Noor Hussain, had his attorney admit that he beat his 66-year-old wife, Nazar. However, Hussain’s attorney argued that he should only be charged with manslaughter because he had no intention of actually killing her. In fact, she said that in his culture, it is more than acceptable to beat one’s wife.

His attorney stated that “He comes from a culture where he thinks this is appropriate conduct, where he can hit his wife…He culturally believed he had the right to hit his wife and discipline his wife.”

The prosecutors argued back saying that he has a history of beating his wife, but this was an attempt to beat her to death. “This was not a man who was trying to discipline his wife.”

This defense is essentially horrifying because if the judge rules in Hussain’s favour, it sets a dangerous precedent that immigrants are allowed to beat their wives, because domestic abuse may be illegal in the USA, it is acceptable in the country they are from.

That’s like saying a Portuguese person is allowed to shoot heroin in the USA, because in Portugal, drugs have been completely been decriminalized and they are socially acceptable to use.